


I Think I've Found Myself a Cheerleader

by Itsreallynotthatcomplicated



Series: I Think I've Found Myself a Cheerleader [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Gen, High School AU, M/M, Multi, carlos really loves dude, cheerleaders and their nerds, cracker is an oc but she's a dog i think its ok, evie/carlos brotp, mal/jay brotp, really guys im trying to make this as fluffy as possible
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2018-12-24 01:56:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 15,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12002514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itsreallynotthatcomplicated/pseuds/Itsreallynotthatcomplicated
Summary: Two cheerleaders, two nerds, one oblivious girl, one nervous boy and a whole lotta fluff





	1. Chocolate Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This wonderful idea was spawned in the back of a car with someone blowing strawberry flavored vapor into my friend's and my face and though it's completely unrelated I feel like sharing that fact. An actual note though: I never went to high school, all my knowledge of public school comes from movies and stories told by college friends, sO forgive me if there are any inaccuracies.

He could be reading a book right now, or watching a movie, or cleaning his room, or literally anything else besides sitting on the cold metal bleachers of his high school’s football field. He and Evie had somehow been convinced to go to the stupid game by Lonnie; how she managed to get two of the most inactive people in the school to attend a football game was beyond him but he had to give her props for it: it was no easy task he was sure. In any case he was shivering on the bleachers next to his two best friends and desperately trying to figure out how the dumb game worked. Lonnie somehow wasn’t cold; she had to be defying basic laws of physics for that, and Evie had already usurped Lonnie’s cast-off varsity jacket so he was out of luck there. Why was it so cold in September anyway? The crowd erupted into screams and interrupted his internal monologue on the weather. One large humanoid had smashed into another burly human and taken the ball. He was dancing around with it and horns started blaring and people were rushing off the bleachers and into the crowd and Carlos yelled along with everyone else because _finally_ it was over. 

Evie at least was enjoying herself; she had been the one to design the new cheer uniforms and today was their debut. He was proud of her, they were beautifully made and gave a much needed sparkle to the otherwise dull field. And they really did glitter in those harsh floodlights; the crystals around their collars looking like stars. She grabbed his hand and ran through the grass over to the girls. He had no idea how she was able to run in heels across grass; she had once dared him to run up her stairs in stilettos and he ended up breaking his wrist, it was truly a talent. The cheer squad saw Evie coming and squealed in unison--also a talent, Carlos thought--and ran to hug her, and Carlos got lost in a glittery, ponytailed mass. He ended up in the arms of a really muscled grasp and he was about to comment that the only other girl who was this muscular was Lonnie until he turned to look at her and he looked up to a distinctively male face.

“The name’s...Jay.” and thus started the strangest encounter with a human being that Carlos had ever had in his life. He felt his face flush, and not from the freezing weather. His heart stuttered before it ramped up to about a million bpm and he couldn’t meet the boy’s gaze. The boy--Jay--grinned at him and tossed his head, whipping his ponytail over his shoulder, and _oh lord he was still hugging him_. Then he was saved by the obnoxiously loud voice of Audrey and he had never been so grateful for her bratty voice in his whole life.

She made everyone stand around and thank Evie for her hard work on the uniforms and everyone clapped and cheered some more. Then one girl with bright purple hair walked past Evie. She stopped and looked her up and down before shoving her way over to Jay. She had seen Evie in the halls every once in awhile and she was pretty sure they had a class together, either way she had never really _looked_ at the girl. She had legs for _days_ wrapped in leather and a baggy varsity jacket (who’s was that anyway?) over a perfectly styled outfit. Her hair fell in soft waves around her face and the lights made her hair flare a deep cobalt. And her eyes. Wow. They were a deep cinnamon brown that sparkled with excitement. Evie was, without a doubt in anyone’s head, the most drop dead gorgeous girl in school (much to Audrey’s chagrin) but she was notoriously anti-social; shunning most parties and pep rallies and only attending dances to show off her most recent creation. She always had that little freckled boy with her too, Mal didn’t know enough about the pair to know if they were dating or not but apparently they were inseparable; he was always her plus one and her “date” to the few dances she’d been to. 

Not that Evie wasn’t asked out, no that wasn’t the issue; she simply had no time for the boys that came to her asking for it. No, she would not waste such precious time on the kinds of people who asked her out; she was too smart for that. She had her Carlos and she had Lonnie who was always kind and that was all she needed. 

But Mal didn't know that and for some reason it really, really bothered her. So she did the only reasonable thing to do in this situation and decided to insult her. 

“Could use more purple.” she said. Evie turned to her without missing a beat and replied.

“Well, Mal, if you make it to team captain next year i'm sure you can petition to get the uniforms redesigned.” Evie smiled sweetly and flipped her hair over her shoulder, linking arms with Carlos and walking the opposite direction. Mal was shook, she was completely and utterly SHOOK. Why did Evie know her name? She didn’t learn Evie’s until like a month ago when Audrey told the cheer squad that the new uniforms they were getting had been designed by her. But here she was calling Mal by her name and fighting snark with snark without any hesitation. She noticed Jay looking at her with a knowing smirk on his face and she tried to punch him before he darted away. 

“What?” she huffed and crossed her arms. 

“Nothing, just wondering when you were going to come back to earth. You picked yourself a pretty little nerd didn’t you?” he shrugged on his jacket and pulled on a beanie. Mal snached it off his head a second later and scowled at him.

“I didn’t pick anyone, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. What about that freckled boy you were clinging to, her little sidekick?” Jay plucked his beanie off her head and shrugged,

“He’s cute, with chocolate eyes, much prettier than your green ones, you freak of nature.”

“Ha ha very funny, let’s beat if before Audrey starts ranting about tomorrow’s practice; I’m exhausted.”

“Alright, let’s bounce.” the two snuck away while their captain was focusing on one of the girls who didn’t make the most perfect landing and ran off. Jay pulled into Mal’s driveway and before he unlocked the car door he turned to her, very serious and stoic.

“Mal...when you sleep tonight...try not to dream too much about her.” she screamed at him and slammed the door while he laughed so hard he had to clutch the steering wheel. She slammed the car door and flipped him off before walking inside.


	2. Despacito

Evie plopped herself down gracefully upon Carlos’s couch, an act only physically possible by she and she alone. Carlos quickly began starting up his xbox 360, all the while asking very, very subtle and sly questions about this Jay character. 

“Soooooo, you designed all the cheer uniforms right?”

“Ugh, it took forever to fit the little princess’ tight schedules but in the end I think it turned out fantabulous, what did you think?”

“Oh no doubt, all other cheer teams will erupt into tears the moment they see how beautiful their competition looks thanks to you... There’s a guy in that team… Right?” Evie’s face instantly lit up; there was nothing her bestie could hide from her, but that’s not to say she would be so cruel as to not let him believe he could deceive her.

“Jay? Yea, he has quite the pair of biceps on him, kinda puts Harry to shame ya know? Any reason?”

“Ummmm, I don’t know...hey i'm craving snack, I’m going to uh, go um...that way.” Carlos got up to get some fritos and a coke while Evie connected her phone to his speaker system, quickly hitting shuffle and then turning her attention back to her friend who now wore a slight blush.

“So, what’s with this interest in the only male cheerleader on the team?” Evie took a sip of her smoothie, trying to hide her knowing smile. Carlos had only been this blushy and stuttery one other time when they went to a concert and met his favorite DJ, so it didn’t really count. She was curious how this was going to play out. 

Thankfully the plucky intro of Despacito came on and Carlos quickly took this opportunity to change the subject.

“Hey, E, guess what’s playing?” before she could get the full answer out he held up a bag of fritos and yelled,

“DESPAFRITO!” she looked at him with a mixture of annoyance, horror, and amusement. 

“I honestly don’t know whether to punch you or hug you right now.” Carlos grinned and handed her a controller. She beat him at every game they played, even if she’d never heard of the game before she would wipe the floor with him. They played till Carlos fell asleep. She covered him with a furry blanket and turned everything off so as to not bother his mother and she double checked his alarm on his phone, turning an extra one on so he would have time to leave before Cruella woke up. She liked sleeping over at Carlos’s house but had her own mother to deal with at tonight. She locked the door behind her and headed home. 

\------

“Hey Mal! Mal!” Mal turned around in the crowded hallway looking for the person screaming her name like an idiot. That idiot turned out to have blue hair and gorgeous eyes. Mal’s heart tripped over itself, trying to be logical and calm itself down; Evie wasn’t running after her for any reason, Mal probably dropped something or left her notes in class. Yea that was it, except she really really wished it wasn’t. Evie caught up to her, walking with an unnatural grace in the packed hall; people seemed to drift out of her way, like they knew they shouldn’t touch her. Mal managed the same thing, just with heavy combat boots and a scowl on her face. Evie leaned against the lockers and looked at Mal.

“You’re friends with Jay, right?” Mal’s heart dropped. Of course. Everyone loved Jay, the only boy on the cheer team and a vivacious flirt. Of course she wanted to talk to Jay. She nodded her head and slammed her locker shut. She saw Evie jump, out of the corner of her eye and felt mildly bad for startling the girl. She took a deep breath and turned to her once again.

“Yes, I am, why?” she crossed her arms and leaned against the lockers, matching Evie’s position. 

“Well you see,” she pushed off the lockers and started walking, like she expected Mal to follow her, which pissed Mal off because she didn’t even think about hesitating. “You see, my beloved Carlos would like to...get to know him better, and I was wondering if you could give me his number so I could pass it along?” she stopped and turned to Mal. Mal couldn’t help but notice her perfect nose and stupid perfect eyebrows and her dumb perfect lips. Then some part of her internal defence mechanisms kicked in and she glared at Evie.

“And why would I do that?” she crossed her arms and looked up, and huh, she never realized that Evie was taller than her. Then Evie did the unthinkable and reached out and put her hand on Mal’s shoulder.

“Because,” Evie tilted her head and her hair fell over her shoulders away from her face, “you could never say no to me.” 

Mal’s eyebrows shot up and she took a step back. It’s not like Evie was wrong per say, it was just that she was pissed as fuck that she didn’t even know this girl beyond her name and her absurd good looks and she was totally right. Mal would lay down her life for this girl if she asked. 

“What makes you say that?” she shrugged Evie’s hand off her shoulder and took a step closer. She could be intimidating, she could be sure of herself, she just had to act like it. Evie smiled and put her hand on her waist. She opened her mouth to reply and was interrupted by the bell, grinning, she tilted her head once more,

“Oh honey, no one can say no to me.” with that she turned on her perfect heels and sauntered away, leaving Mal to pick her jaw up off the floor. She stood in the middle of the rapidly emptying hall trying to recover some of her dignity when she realized she was clutching a piece of paper. She looked down to see a phone number written in a neat line and she grinned a big goofy grin, realizing what she had done though caused her to scowl and stomp off down the hall. She didn’t care that Evie had just put her phone number in her palm, no she didn't care at all.


	3. Who's That in the Stands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am frantically trying to update this before the wifi in my house gets shut off so i apologize for any typos or coding issues, i'll come back and fix it sometime tomorrow plz enjoyyyyyyyy

“Someone looks happy.”

“Jay, you need to shut up or I will miscount your situps.”

“It’s alright, I’ve gotta work on my abs anyway.” Mal snorted and flopped onto the ground.. “So, why are you so happy? You haven’t been in this good a mood since you took Audrey’s position as flyer.”

“That's what she gets for being such a bitch all the time, Fairy Godmother won't stand for that shit.”

“Then how are _you_ still on the team?” Mal kicked at him halfheartedly and snorted.

“Cause I'm only a bitch to Audrey.” Jay laughed and tugged her to her feet as Audrey started dictating their drills, Mal and Jay screwing around and making faces whenever the coach or captain weren’t looking. They split off to do partner work and Mal and Jay started going through their usual routine when Mal looked out into the bleachers for her spot. Jay held her up with one arm and she brought up her leg into a scorpion hold--admittedly not the smartest position to choose while doing a cupie-- but when she looked out she saw a head of blue hair that was becoming painfully familiar. Her first instinct was to impress the girl and luckily her and Jay had been paired together for so many years he quickly adjusted to her idiocy and shifted her weight to accommodate. She whipped her leg down and he popped her forward to hold her landing. She glanced to where Evie was sitting in the bleachers, hoping she had seen and cursing herself for thinking that. Jay just watched her and grinned.

“Hey, the next time you wanna pull something dumb like that let me know and I’ll help it look more impressive.” he hip bumped her and she swore at him as she flew off balance and nearly crashed into Audrey.

“Mal! Watch it.” Audrey looked at her in disgust and tossed her ponytail. “Also, you need to have the proper uniform for practice, which means that loose hair needs to be pinned up.” she turned away and went to her position. 

“Yea, yea princess.” Mal muttered. She went to stand between her bases and waited for the stunts to be called. At her cue she stepped into her bases hands and as they launched her into the air she tucked and spun around, flying higher than anyone else; even their smallest girl couldn’t get the same height Mal seemed to. She loved the feeling of rocketing and spinning through the air; she was soaring like a dragon, she felt, and had no fear of falling so long as Jay was there. She trusted him with her life on a daily basis and never hesitated when asked to try something new. It was how she managed to impress every coach and teammate she had. She plummeted downward and dismounted, throwing her arms up and turning. She was grinning wildly, the adrenalin pumping through her veins. Coach (or as most of the girls called her ) Fairy Godmother called for the stunt again and gave corrections as they went. For that two hour block of practice Mal forgot about the fact that Evie had been in the stands watching her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am going to try to update on thursdays bcs i have the least amount of stuff going on that day but that may change i will try to be consistent for now but school takes up a lot of my time but we'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER ~~~ooOOooOoo foreshadowing


	4. Freckle Boy

“You did what?” Carlos jumped up and looked down at Evie. She sat up on her bed and met his gaze.

“I gave Mal my number so that you could get Jay’s.”

“Why?” he groaned and put his face in his hands. Dude ran over and scratched his leg and Carlos scooped him up and started pacing. 

“Carlos, you like him! At least a little, aren’t you curious? Don’t you want to get to know him better?” she threw herself back on her bed, bouncing with the motion. It was a minute before Carlos answered.

“Yea, I do, but I don’t know what’s going on. Why do I feel like this?”

“Because you’re allergic to the full spectrum of human emotion.” Evie deadpanned. Carlos stopped and looked at her in exasperation before he started pacing once more.

“I just thought, for the longest time, since I was never interested in anyone, girls or boys, that… I don’t know. There’s a word for it right? When you don’t feel attraction to anyone?” he stopped pacing and watched her sit up. She looked thoughtful for a second before replying,

“Yes. There’s a word for it, but I don’t think it applies to you; it’s asexual. Carlos, you haven’t been able to quit thinking about this boy, I think you have a crush on the cheerleader!” she squealed and jumped up, grabbing Carlos in a bear hug. He started laughing with her and at her excitement. She grabbed his hands and started dancing around her room with him before pulling them onto the floor. 

“Wait, Evie, you said you gave Mal your number, why didn’t you just ask Jay?” she sat up and combed her fingers through her hair, twirling it around her fingers,

“Well, at first it was in case he wouldn’t give it to me-”

“Not really a problem though.”

“-no not really, he likes you so I’m sure he would have been fine, but, I don’t know. There’s something about Mal that intrigues me. She speaks her mind without hesitation and she’s just too fun to tease.” 

“I think you like her.” he drew out the last two words the way they did when they were kids in elementary school and she lightly smacked the back of his head.

“Pfft, silly...she’s beautiful and full of rage and a very talented cheerleader, but no, I don’t like her, not like that.” she shrugged and let out a long sigh. Carlos sat up and leaned his head on her shoulder.

“You can let go ya know, it’s ok that you screwed up a few times, those guys don’t matter right?” she huffed and leaned her head against his,

“I’m bad at love, Carlos, I know that by now. Besides, mama says that I either need to get myself a prince or get myself a degree and I tried for my prince so I’m done.”

“Maybe you don’t need a prince, maybe what you need is a princess.” she wrapped her arms around him and hummed. There was a chance he could be right, but for now she needed to focus on the only prince in her life that had never let her down. 

\-----

“Jay, it’s 2017 why can’t I delete friends in real life? Like just make them leave me alone for god’s sake.”

“Mal what you’re thinking of is called murder and is typically frowned upon in decent society.” she scoffed at him and tossed her hair,

“Decent society can fuck itself, I don’t give a shit I will fiGHT-”

“Mal I literally throw you in the air on a daily basis who are you gonna fight?”

“THE PATRIARCHY!” she screamed and launched herself at Jay who, having anticipated this exact reaction, caught her and swung her though the air before throwing her to the ground where she did and elegant summersault and bounced to her feet, launching herself at him once again. This time she stepped into his palms and he shot her upward into a backwards summersault. As she landed she took a step back and crashed full force into none other than Carlos.

“Hey freckle boy, watch where you're going.”

“You're doing flips in the hallway, I'm not sure I'm the one to blame here.” Mal crossed her arms and snorted. He was right, obviously, but there was no need to let him know. Just then he looked over Mal’s shoulder and saw Jay. Jay waved at him and smiled; Carlos blushed and turned away, muttered something at Mal, and pushed passed her into his class. 

“What was that about?” Mal raised one eyebrow questioningly. Jay crossed his ankles and leaned against the lockers,

“Apparently your blue-haired little princess got my number and passed it along, though how she got it is still a mystery.” he tilted his head and squinted a little at her. She refused to meet his gaze, staring at her nails as though she cared what they looked like. 

“Dunno, she probably got it from one of the girls on the team, some kiss-up looking for a new outfit or something.”

“Uh huh, ‘or something’.” 

“Stop interrogating me. I didn’t do anything! I have done nothing wrong, ever, in my life!” she took off down the hall at a full sprint. 

“Mal! Your class is the other direction!”

“Not today it isn’t!”

\------

“Mal, you know Carlos gave me a perfect way to describe you.”

“If he said I’m a bitch he’s right, but I’m coming after him.” Jay pushed her shoulder and laughed,

“No, he’s too sweet to say something like that, he said that you are ‘allergic to the full spectrum of human emotion’ and I feel like no string of words could describe you so well.” Mal opened her mouth to respond but before she could get a word out Uma started yelling,

“Ok, because our Queen Bitch is out for the day and Fairy Godmother inexplicably put me in charge, let’s start. Bleachers, go!” every flier on the team groaned and one girl yelled that her legs were too short for this. 

“Why the hell did she put Uma in charge? She’s only been here for like half a year.”

“She was captain at her old school it makes sense.”

“Jay, can you let me complain without giving me reasons not to?” she scowled and took off up the bleachers, leaving Jay to chase after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyyyyyy if you caught the Halsey reference good for you we can all be basic together (go listen to a stripped version of bad at love i promise it's a million times better)


	5. Cracker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the short chapter i have a tournament coming up tomorrow and have to prep for that and my laptop decided to completely shut down on me and ahhhhhh!!! but plz enjoy these nerds and my favorite character is introduced: Cracker is making her first appearance

Evie heard a noise at her window and a second later someone bounced on her bed. She barely glanced up from her sewing machine, knowing Carlos was sprawled on her bed and cuddling Dude. 

“Dinner is downstairs if you want it, mama wanted something with meat in it so there’s roast beef. Or there’s a bunch of cookies on the desk, I tried a new recipe for the madeleines: Cruella’s recipe was good but I think these are better.” she was focused on the dress in her hands but she knew he was smiling; he had stolen the book of old family recipes from his mother and given it to Evie and he loved when she used them, lord knows Cruella didn’t.

“Of course they’re gonna be better, you made them.” she turned around, grinning.

“Don’t give any to Dude, he’s already had enough people food today and he ate half of Cracker’s food too. He eats more than you do.” Carlos laughed,

“Poor Cracker, never getting fed enough.” the old dog raised it’s head and thumped her tail at the second mentioning of her name. She pulled herself to her paws and walked over to Evie, placing her big head in her lap. Evie laughed and scratched behind her ears. Cracker had been a present from one of her mother’s coworkers when she was seven; she was a purebred Doberman and Evie’s constant companion, faithfully watching over her. 

“Aw, old baby it’s ok, Carlos will give you a cookie, go say hi.” she kissed Cracker on the nose and continued on with her sewing. “Soooo, how are things going with Jay?” Carlos choked and Evie tried to stifle her giggle. 

“Ok, I know you’re laughing at me and it is completely unnecessary. We’ve been texting and I’ve been totally avoiding him in person; I walked all the way around campus just so there was no chance of me running into him on the field. Oh, and he and Mal were doing gymnastics in front of my classroom and when I saw him I couldn’t get a word out, Evie what am I going to dO?” 

“Why were they doing gymnastics in the hall?” she furrowed her brows, twisting around in her chair to look at him.

“I don’t know, why do hot people do anything? Ugh!” he flopped back on her bed, almost squishing Dude in the process. Evie was grinning ear to ear; Carlos had never, in her nearly ten years of knowing him, talked like that about anyone. Clearly he liked Jay, she just needed them to interact in real life and their relationship would blossom. She needed to get them together in a surefire way and where there were no possibilities of bolting away because of class or something. She would have to think; they really didn’t run in the same circles but she was invited to everything from parties to cotillions on a weekly basis, maybe there was something Jay would be attending and Evie could force the two of them together. Mal would know where Jay was likely to be, she could ask her for help. 

For now she had to answer his question.

“Well, Carlos, as a hot person myself I’d say we do things because we have ulterior motives. Though gymnastics in the hallway of a school is a little complicated to unravel, unless he knew you would be there and wanted to impress you.” she walked over to him and plucked the cookie out of his hand, “You’re getting crumbs on my bed.”

“Sorry.” a mouthful of crumbs went everywhere and Dude and Cracker licked up the mess.

“Carlos that’s so gross.”   
\-------  
Mal whipped her locker shut, turned, and almost slammed into Evie who was standing just next to it. Before Mal could get a word out Evie held out a container wrapped in purple paper.

“A peace offering, Mal, because I need your help with something.”

“Why would I help you?”

“Why is that the only sentence you've said to me?” She pouted and let her arms drop, the box crinkling against her hip. Mal’s eyes drew up the line of Evie’s body, jerking her gaze up to Evie’s eyes when she realized what she was doing. She shook her head and tried to think of a snarky response. 

“Because you only seem to come to me when you need something ridiculous that you can get without my help.” Yea that was good, she showed her. “If you’ll excuse me your highness, but I have to get to practice.” She turned and started to walk away but her arm was caught and she was pulled back. She found herself pushed against the lockers, Evie holding her there with a hand against Mal’s stomach. 

“Yes, I could probably do this on my own or find someone to help me, anyone would be willing I'm aware of that, but I want _your_ help.” 

“If you're so confident in your abilities why are you coming to me?” Mal was honestly shocked she was able to get an entire sentence out; she was having trouble breathing with Evie that close. Evie let her head drop in exasperation, not realizing she was closing the distance just a little bit more between their faces.

“Jay is your best friend, I know that much. Carlos is the most important person in my life right now and I want him to be happy. He likes Jay, I'm positive you know that, and I need to get the two of them together and for _that_ I need your help.” Mal’s mind was racing; yea she understood the part about getting Jay and Carlos together but she was also putting two and two together. If she helped Evie that would mean they would actually talk to each other for more than a few minutes. Could she survive something like that? As brown and green eyes met she decided: fuck yes she would do this, or die trying. 

“Ok, I’ll help you, but only for Jay.” She hastily added. She was disappointed when Evie moved to put a normal distance between them and that Evie’s hand was back on her own hip. She was disappointed that she was able to breathe normally with the distance between them. Evie smiled sweetly, in the way that a siren must smile when looking at a dopey sailor and handed Mal the box. 

“The uniform fits you well Mal, the silver complements your skin beautifully.” Evie tugged the sleeve of the uniform into place and turned on her heel, clicking down the hall and swaying her hips. Mal let out a breath and laid her head against the lockers behind her. She was being toyed with by a dangerously beautiful cat and she couldn't bring herself to stay away from her perfectly manicured claws.


	6. Debutante Balls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry i didn't post this on thursday i literally do not remember what happened on thursday or why i didn't post anything, but tbh i'm shocked that i've posted consistently up until this week so whooOOOOOooOoOo knows but plz enjoooooyyyy

“Evie! Someone's at the door!”

“Yes mama, I know.” She walked to the door, expecting a package or something; instead there was a cheerleader on her doorstep. “You’re early.”

“Practice ended sooner than normal.” She stood there, bouncing on her heels before Evie beckoned her in.

“Evie! Who's at the door?”

“Just a friend, mama. One of the cheerleaders from school.”

“Oh! Let me see, does she have her uniform?” As she said this she walked around the corner. Mal stood there, being inspected by the frightening woman. She wasn't so bad as her own mother though, which was a relief but not a shock; no one was as scary as Maleficent. “It looks beautiful!” Evie smiled, reveling in the complement without hiding it. Mal wondered if she was as harshly judgmental as her own mom. “Now go fix your hair, it's all out of place.” Evie's face fell slightly and she nodded,

“Yes, mama.” She started walking up a set of stairs and Mal followed. They got to the top when the woman yelled,

“I'm leaving in half an hour Evie, be a good hostess to your guest.”

“Yes, mama.”

“Cruella is going to be meeting me there and I don’t want her wretched little son over here the whole time, do you understand me?”

“Yes, mama. I’ll make sure he spends time at his own house.” Evie put her hand to her forehead and kept walking down the hall. 

“Where is she going?” Mal tried to break the tension she could feel building in the girl.

“Paris, Milan, New York, who knows. All I care is that she'll be gone for a week and a half.” Mal nodded, she could understand that feeling. Evie opened a blue door with an elaborately ornamental gold handle to reveal a massive, vicious, savage, bloodthirsty, murderous dog. She froze; she didn't really dislike dogs but they didn't really like her either and oh my god why did she have such a big dog in her _room_? Evie walked in and patted the dog on the head,

“This is Cracker by the way, she’s not gonna hurt you as long as you don't act scared of her.”

“Oh yea ok don't act scared of the monster dog casually lying on the floor.” Evie laughed and called the dog over, petting her and bopping her on the nose. 

“She’s not a monster, she's my little baby. Aren't you Cracker? Yes!” 

“You named her Cracker?” Mal tried to hold back a laugh.

“I was eight, I was under pressure to name her quickly, leave me alONE.” Mal kept laughing until Evie threw a dog toy at her and Cracker came trotting over; she quickly stifled her laughter, edging away from the dog. She stood in the middle of the room, able to observe now that she wasn't confronted with the four-legged beast. It was a very large room with two separate desks; one had neat stacks of books and a computer, the other looked like a craft store had exploded on it. There were swatches of cloth and racks of thread in every color imaginable. On the wall was a magnetic board with drawings and magazine clippings and little jars full of beads and glitter. Her bed was one of those classic four-poster beds with dark blue drapes over it. Everything was a shade of blue, red, or gold and there were two dog beds against the far wall, the ones that looked like cute little couches.

“You have another dog?”

“Sort of, Carlos found Dude a couple years ago and his mom won't let him stay in her house so he lives here while Carlos comes and takes care of him. And he takes care of Cracker when I'm gone, which is much more often than I'd like, I hate leaving her.” Cracker jumped up on the bed and laid elegantly next to Evie, the two of them the picture of royalty. 

“So Carlos has a kind-of dog and you have two kind-of dogs?” Mal was trying to get the gist of this odd arrangement without sounding too much like an idiot.

“Yes I do, you can sit you know, it's-” she was interrupted by a shudder-inducing wail from her mother downstairs. She deflated a little and stood up, reluctantly walking to the door and downstairs. Mal was able to look around Evie’s room more in depth, but she was still worried about the deceptively named Cracker lying on the royal blue duvet. She turned back to the wall above the sewing table and looked at the photos plastered to it: some were just cut outs from magazines like she thought, but others were much more artistic; a lot of them were of Evie in gowns of various shades of white. Wedding dresses? It seemed a weird hobby for a girl to have. There were also some of Carlos in custom outfits of leather and fur and a whole series of photos with people she had never seen but were clearly models. All the clothes had a similar style to them, one that Mal was beginning to recognize in the clothes Evie wore and designed. She let her gaze flit around the room, looking for more pieces to the puzzle. There were rugs of varying sizes, shapes, and colors scattered on the floor and a luxurious pile pillows in one corner. The wall across from the bed was lined with bookshelves and had the computer desk built into it. The shelves were stuffed full of worn paperbacks, leather bound classics, and various oversized fashion books. 

Mal stood up to get a better look at the bookshelves when she heard the dog shift on the bed. She inched closer to Cracker, holding out her hand. She could at least try to make nice with the gigantic murder-dog. She was scratching behind Cracker’s ears when Evie walked in muttering something in Spanish. She stopped when she got to the edge of the bed and sat opposite of the dog.

“Making friends?” She leaned against the headboard and kicked her heels off.

“Just making sure you're not planning to sick her on me is all.” Evie rolled her eyes, pulling her laptop off the nightstand and neatly tucking her feet under her. She patted the spot next to her and Mal walked to the other side of the bed to clamber on, trying to not look so awkward as she sat next to Evie. Trying to distract herself from the proximity of their bodies Mal thought to ask Evie about the photos.

“Why all the white dresses? You trying to find the perfect wedding gown?” Evie grinned wryly and shook her head.

“No, I wish. Have you ever been to a debutante ball?” 

“No, I've never even heard of it.”

“Basically, if you have any decent amount of money you make a ‘debut’ and show the world that you are of good stock and fine breeding and ready to marry others of noble birth. You're only supposed to do it when you turn sixteen, but most girls do them more often: for example, I am forced to go to one every couple months. The only thing that keeps me sane at those things is knowing that I at least designed the dress I'm wearing, they're always white by the way--as you said like a wedding dress--and that I'm the only girl there who dares to have blue hair and it infuriates my mother.” 

“Oh, that sucks. I'm...sorry?”

“Not your fault, just be glad you'll never have to be in one of them ever in your life. Now,” she nestled herself into the pillows and looked at Mal, “how are we going to get our boys together once and for all?”


	7. High School Musical

“How have you never seen High School Musical? It was the shit when we were kids!” Evie looked at Mal in abject horror. “Get your head in the game? I want fabulous? None of this was part of your childhood?”

“No,” Mal was shaking her head and laughing; Evie looked truly worried. She got a look of resolve on her face and grabbed Mal’s hand, pulling her to her feet.

“We’re going to watch High School Musical, I cannot have a friend in my life who hasn’t seen it.” She pulled Mal into the hall, not noticing the fact that Mal’s breath caught. She tugged Mal downstairs, brought her to the living room and told her to turn the movie on. The only problem was that the remote had three buttons on it, none of which looked like it would actually turn the television on, plus she didn’t know where to find the movie; this was turning into an extremely stressful movie experience. Evie looked through the doorway in the kitchen and grinned; Mal was staring at the television, clearly perplexed. She called out to her through the hall.

“Just hit the power button and talk to the remote, tell it to open Netflix.”

“I just talk to it? You’re not just telling me that so I start yelling at your tv and you can sit there and laugh are you?” she heard Evie giggle and followed the siren song to where she was. Evie started singing under her breath and spun around in the middle of the kitchen. She turned to see Mal watching her and smiled. She held out her hand,

“Dance with me, cheerleader.” Mal raised an eyebrow,

“Ok, nerd.” Mal shrugged, grabbed her hand, and spun the girl around the kitchen in delight. They nearly fell to the floor when Mal got daring and tried to dip Evie but Evie saved herself and kicked her legs under and rolled up, ending chest to chest with Mal.

“Can you tango?” her voice was low and husky and slightly breathless and Mal had to fight to say anything coherent. She shook her head instead, making Evie laugh; it was a melodically beautiful sound Mal was getting used to hearing. She hoped Evie would never stop laughing; it made Evie’s eyes light up, she wasn’t so serious. If it was even possible, Mal thought she looked even more beautiful when Evie threw her head back and laughed while showing Mal a basic tango. The proximity to Evie was making her brain foggy; the intoxicating smell of apples and cinnamon swirling around her. 

“Mal you can dance, right? For cheer?” Evie was sitting on the counter now, eating cold popcorn with her ankles crossed neatly against the cabinets below her, ever elegant and poised.

“Not really, I’m mostly impressive once I’ve been thrown in the air. I know the basic cheers but that’s about it. When we compete, that’s what Fairy Godmother makes me work on most.” Evie smiled again and Mal had to steady herself against the counter.

“I don’t think you’re so bad, you lack coordination but other than that I think you’re good. Oh, here,” she held out the bowl of popcorn. Mal was reaching out to grab some when Evie suddenly took it back. “Wait! Have you ever had it covered in candy?”

“Covered in what?” Mal scrunched her nose and shook her head, watching as Evie lept off the counter in one polished motion and started rifling through the cabinet behind her.

“Get a couple bowls, they’re next to the fridge.”

“Yes ma’am.” she heard Evie scoff as she dropped a bag of blue candy and some cinnamon candies on the counter next to her. “What are we going to do with these?”

“Melt them and cover the popcorn in it, duh..” she started dumping the candies into the bowls and stuck them in the microwave. “These are some of the only sweet things my mother allows in the house, it’s amazing.”

“It sounds really gross.”

“Trust me, you liked that tart I made you right? I know what I’m doing.” fifteen minutes later they had blue candied and cinnamon flavored popcorn to go with their movie. Mal didn’t really pay much attention to it, alternating between the oddly delicious popcorn and watching Evie sing along to each song, even doing some of the dance numbers. Every time Evie caught her staring she would pout and complain that Mal wasn’t paying attention, but Mal found the pout too attractive to really want to stop. 

“So, what do you think? Has your lack of a proper movie education been fixed?” Evie tossed a piece of popcorn to Cracker and turned to Mal.

“Oh definitely, I clearly missed out on a lot.” Evie hummed and closed her eyes. She yawned and her breathing slowed and then she started falling towards Mal. They were only a few inches apart so Evie didn’t have far to go before she was leaning her head on Mal’s shoulder. She was violently aware of where Evie was touching her; her arm, shoulder, and neck were on fire and she could smell Evie’s shampoo. Her head was already foggy with lack of sleep and the smell of sweet popcorn and Evie’s hair were making it hard for her to think. She caved after a minute and rested her head against hers, both of them asleep in minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i've never actually had the cinnamon popcorn but my aunt says its amazing but the blue candy are just candy melts if anyone wants to try it!! i hiGHLY recommend it


	8. A Party?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> raise your hand if you should be doing schoolwork bcs same

“Carlos what is this?” Evie had just opened an email attachment that turned out to be photo of her and Mal snuggled up on the couch. She had called Carlos as soon as she saw it, demanding an explanation. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, you need to be more specific.” she could _hear_ the smile on his face.

“The photo of me and Mal that nobody should have been able to take unless they were _inside_ my house. When did you come over?”

“I don’t know, around twelve I think, Cruella had a earlier flight than I thought so I brought Dude over and saw you two lovebirds on the couch.” 

“How long were you over here spying on me? I didn’t see you in the morning.” 

“I don’t know, a couple hours, long enough that I knew Cruella would be asleep when I got home.” Evie nodded, though she knew Carlos couldn’t see her; she understood that all too well. She decided to change the subject (and put her and Mal’s plan into action),

“Hey! We should go to that party Lonnie was talking about, it sounds fun.”

“Why on earth would you want to go to a party at the last minute?”

“You were taking creepshots of me while I was sleeping and you want to know why I want to go to a party?” she paused and laughed into Carlos’s silence and in a singsong voice said, “Plus, Jay might be there.” Carlos groaned,

“Now I really don’t want to go. Why can’t we just stay at your house and listen to loud music there? It will be exactly the same I swear. Also I don’t think it counts as a creepshot, I wasn’t hiding from you.”

“You took the photo without me knowing, by definition it’s a creepshot. And when are you coming over? I don’t want to get there super late.”

“Ugh, in a few minutes I guess?”

“Great! See you then, love you!”

“Love ya”

 

\------

 

“Why are we even going to this party? We can just listen to loud music here.” Carlos was sprawled on the floor in the hallway, glancing in the room whenever Evie walked by in a new outfit. “Also, I thought you said you had a new dress to show off but you’ve changed like thirteen times.”

“I did but I decided to change the dress and it’s too late to fix it. Now help me! Which one should I wear; the red or the black?” he rolled onto his side and looked at her with one eye.

“Wear the black corset with the red laces and the blue half-cardigan, now can we go? I want to get this over with as fast as possible.” 

“Yea alright let’s go.” she tugged on a pair of strappy heels, ignoring the comment from Carlos about how she would seriously regret wearing them later, and walked out the door with Carlos reluctantly following. “Come on, you’re going to enjoy this.”

“How do you know, oh wise leather-clad sage?”

“Because,” she started the car and they could feel it rumble to life around them, “I just have a feeling.” 

“I hope that feeling won’t get us arrested for driving this thing.”

“Relax, I filled out the paperwork at the DMV, my name is on the license.” she shrugged and laughed lightly, “And it needs to be driven or else the oil will start to sludge and the breaks will deteriorate.” she revved the engine and ginned. “Plus I like the looks on people’s faces when I climb out of it. It’s like a bad movie: beautiful girl pulls up in ridiculous sports car and are severely disappointed when they see a boy in the passenger seat.”

“Glad to know you take joy in me being a disappointment.” she reached over and ruffled his hair.

“You’re not a disappointment, now be a good passenger and DJ properly.” she peeled out of the driveway and whipped around the corner, stereo blaring, and Carlos laughed despite himself. 

\-----

“You think we can get them home?”

“I don't know can you drive her car?”

“I don't want to be responsible for that!”

“Can _I_ drive the car?” Jay looked extremely excited about the idea of driving Evie’s ridiculous car. 

“Do you know what either of our mothers would do if it got so much as a dent on a _Porsche_?!” Carlos shook his head, he couldn't believe how the night had ended: never in a million years would he have guessed that his responsible “older sister figure” would have ended up blackout drunk with her crush. The night had gone, in essence, according to plan: trick the two girls into spending the night together at the party so they would finally admit their feelings for each other. He and Jay had come up with the plan a few days ago, the only thing that had thrown a monkey wrench in it was that the two girls were incredibly competitive and incredibly terrible at beer pong. The boys had challenged them to one--mark that, one--round of beer pong but they were relentless. They were also tragic light weights. Now they had to carry the two wasted girls home because both of them had driven to the damn party. 

Evie didn’t live too far from where the party was so they figured they would get the girls to her house and they could all crash there. There was no way Jay and Carlos were going to leave the two girls alone and Carlos knew Grimhilde and Cruella wouldn’t be home for another few days so they were safe. After about two blocks Mal saw a cat and tried to pet it but started crying when it ran away and Jay ended up carrying her in a princess hold so she couldn’t go anywhere. When she started crying Evie got really upset too and started singing “hush little baby” and despite her usually beautiful singing voice she was hilariously out of tune. 

Eventually, after many, many detours and tears, they made it to Evie’s house and Carlos could breathe a sigh of relief. They stumbled into the living room and up the stairs, finally dumping the girls on Evie’s bed. They tugged off their shoes and Jay tossed a blanket over them while Carlos let Dude and Cracker out so they wouldn’t disturb anyone. 

“This night went way differently than I thought it would.” Carlos faceplanted onto the couch and screamed into the pillows, “Thank you for helping me get Evie home safe.” he was still talking into the pillows but Jay heard him and sat down next to him.

“No problem, and thanks for letting Mal crash here too, she lives too far for me to carry her all the way home. I’m strong but even I have limits.” Carlos laughed and rolled onto his side. He looked like he wanted to say something to Jay but he hadn’t really made up his mind to do it. Jay stayed quiet; he wasn’t good with words, not the way Carlos was. No, he prefered to let the smaller boy talk most of the time, loving the way his eyes lit up when he got excited or how he could sometimes talk so fast Jay couldn’t even understand him. He was an excellent listener too though, listening paying close attention when Jay explained the cheers he and Mal did or the premise of a sport Jay liked to watch. 

“Hey Jay...you think we should both sleep over here? You know, in case one of them wakes up or something?” Carlos still wasn’t looking at Jay but he smiled and lay down next to Carlos and snuggled up next to him. Carlos stiffened for a second before muttering something that sounded an awful lot like “fuck it” and wrapped his arms around Jay. He smelled of cheap alcohol and sweat and grass and Carlos buried his face in Jay’s chest. They fell asleep with Carlos nestled into Jay’s grasp just as the sky was hinting at the morning to come.


	9. Pancakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> iiiiiIIIiIiIIiIIiI dooOoOoOOOooOOoOoooNNNNnnnnntttt know what I'm doOooooOoOOOOOOOoooOoing

Mal peeled her eyes open, squinting into the horrible brightness. Her room was never this bright, what the hell was going on? She also had a pounding headache that the sunlight was _not_ helping. She tried to roll over but there was something in the way, something warm and heavy she couldn't move... Her eyes suddenly shot open and she knew exactly where she was and what--who--was lying next to her. She couldn’t decide whether to untangle herself and leave or just lie there and suffer the consequences, though the consequences couldn’t possibly be as bad as the hangover she was suffering at the moment. Evie groaned suddenly and buried her face in the back of Mal’s neck; Mal’s heart started pounding in response to the added contact and she tried to calm it so her headache wouldn't get worse. She knew her inability to control her emotions would bite her in the ass at some point but she didn't realize it would be this fucking morning and feel this much like a fucking hangover.

She tried , though not very hard, to sit up and untangle herself from the blanket (and Evie’s arms) but only ended up a few inches from Evie’s face. This would have been fine if Evie was still asleep, instead her eyelids were fluttering open and she was mumbling in spanish.

“Eres muy atractiva, amor, pero te huele mal la boca, Mal”

“What?” Mal mentally smacked her forehead for even responding.

“Your breath stinks Mal.” Mal had to fight not to laugh; she was being insulted by the hottest girl in the world who also happened to be about three inches from her own face and in a drunken stupor. 

Without thinking, Mal leaned towards Evie and thought, not for the first time, about kissing the girl, but she panicked and pressed their foreheads together instead. Evie hummed and buried her face in Mal’s chest and they fell in and out of consciousness. They didn’t ever fully drift back to sleep; neither of them really wanted to get up and break that hazy spell of the quiet, sunny room. They would have stayed like that forever but they were interrupted by an excruciatingly loud Carlos and Jay. 

They had good intentions at least: they made the girls get out of bed and shower so they could at least start functioning like actual human beings. Jay ordered breakfast since no one besides Evie could cook and no one had a car at the moment. Around one they were all crowded around the coffee table scarfing down pancakes and not talking about the night before by any means. They watched high school musical (per Evie’s request) and took turns dancing with the songs. Carlos and Evie knew every song and dance number much to Mal and Jay’s delight. Carlos had zero hesitation singing the love songs at Jay and Mal was doing her best to sing along with Evie. 

When they all felt decently full and sober they clipped leashes on Dude and Cracker (Evie explaining to Jay that no, she wasn’t going to eat him and yes, she had been in the house the whole night) and headed toward the house of last nights party. When Mal thought about it she cringed; she vaguely remembered singing karaoke, beer pong, and dancing on the counters with Evie. She also remembered that Evie had been wearing a _lot_ of strappy leather. Right now she was wearing a fuzzy pink sweater and leggings with leg warmers which she somehow managed to pull off as adorable. Evie had been kind enough to let Mal borrow a jacket; a really cool purple and green leather jacket with studs and zippers all over it. Mal pulled her phone out and snapped a picture of Evie just as she turned around; the picture would make any photographer proud. The sunlight framed her beautifully and Cracker was standing in front of her, the two of them regal as ever. She quickly tucked her phone away and turned to get in her car, relieved that the engine started. She watched as Evie and Carlos got into their car and waved at them as they drove off. 

“So how was your night?” Mal turned at Jay’s voice and shook her head.

“I don’t even know where to begin.” 

 

\-----

“Uma I don’t want to talk about this.” Mal shoved her bag into the locker and glared at Uma.

“Yea well, I do. I saw you two basically eating each other’s faces on Friday, the whole student body basically saw.”

“Ok first off, that didn’t happen, second-”

“No, no ‘second’ you don’t remember a thing. She pulled you up on the counter and you two danced until Jay and Carlos pulled you down and took you home. And where did you go anyway, I saw your guys’s cars still on the street.” 

“Who hired you to be a private investigator on me and E?”

“Ohhhhh you even gave her a nickname?” 

“You can leave.” Mal glared at Uma and she put her hands up and grinned.

“Alright, I’ll go talk to Jay instead; he, at least, was sober.” and with that she bounced out of the locker rooms. Mal puffed out the breath she’d been holding and pulled on the rest of her uniform. Evie was right; the silver did look good on her. God, that girl was everywhere. 

She ran out to join her team and saw the last person she wanted to deal with right now. Harry was sitting on the bleachers, looking right at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that cute little spanish bit doesn't translate perfectly in google translate but its close enough also thanks to my good friend for almost making me post something drastically different because she knows i caN'T UNDERSTAND SPANISH, ahhhhh friendship


	10. Puppies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a shameless segway into a halloween chapter not even going to lie

“So, little missy, I hear you have a new plaything.”

“Harry, I don’t want to talk to you.” Mal crossed her arms and glared at Harry. He had sat and watched the whole practice, waiting and plotting, Mal was sure of it. 

“Oh but I think you do, after all, who knows all those lovey-dovey bits better than I do? Or haven’t you forgotten?” Mal raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms.

“I haven’t forgotten anything Harry,” she held her hand out to look at her nails, “I just don’t care anymore. In fact, I don’t think i _ever_ cared.” Harry squinted his eyes and crinkled his nose at her. 

“You said otherwise for quite sometime. Should I remind you?” he grabbed her hand, startled when she wrenched it away. “Be careful, she might find out who you really are. It would be cruel to break such a pretty girl the way you broke me.

“Don’t you have to get Uma? She won't wait too long for her puppy to come back.” Mal pouted and raised her brow, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Harry grinned and swayed away, calling as he left,

“Careful Mal, puppies eventually turn into wolves.” 

_-_-_-_-_

“Jay have you seen Evie? Or Carlos?” Mal hadn’t been able to catch Jay on their way between classes and didn’t want to ask during class so she waited until they were on their way home to ask; she hadn’t seen Evie all day and she wasn’t worried, per say, just curious. Jay shrugged,

“Carlos said he was at some debate tournament in LA for a few days, but I don’t know about Evie. Why don’t you just text her?” 

“‘Why don’t you just text her?’ are you _insane_? No! I am _not_ going to _text_ her _**first**_!”

“Alright, ok calm down, I didn’t say to stalk her with cameras or something, jeez.” Jay laughed and shook his head as Mal huffed and leaned her head on the car window. She was silent for a little before asking,

“Jay are we doing anything for Halloween this year?” she rolled her head to the side to look at him. 

“Like for cheer or what?” he sounded oddly reluctant to answer. 

“Like you and me as people that are not obligated to be anywhere for cheer for the first time in forever.” 

“Uh, I don’t think so...Carlos says Halloween is his favorite holiday though, so I think we may do something. You and Evie should come with us.” 

“Sure, that sounds not horrible, are you going to a party or something?”

“I don’t know, he doesn’t strike me as the haunted house type but who knows.” he pulled up to her driveway and paused, “You know what, I think that Evie might be with Carlos in LA. He mentioned that she had to be in two patterns or something like that.”

“Patterns?”

“Apparently it’s a debate term that is like what events you do is what pattern you are in.” Mal shook her head. 

“Fckn nerds. Alright, text me when you know what you’re doing for Halloween.” with that she shut the door and walked up the path to her house.


	11. Cerberus and a Werewolf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot believe i didn't post this last thursday and now its like two weeks after halloween but you know what i love this holiday so imma post this anywayyyyyy!!!!!! plz enjoy!!!!!

Jay and Mal pulled into Evie’s driveway, marveling at how heavily decorated it was; it looked like a haunted castle. Mal had asked Evie the first time she saw it why they put so much effort into the holiday and honestly wasn’t shocked at Evie’s answer: her mom liked to scare the shit out of little kids. It sounded like something her own mother would do if she were to care enough. Every year Evie and Grimhilde turned their front rooms into a creepy haunted house and let those brave enough wander around. It turned out that Evie was nearly impossible to scare and loved watching terrible horror movies--which Mal absolutely hated. She thanked whatever deity was listening when she saw that Evie and Carlos were outside and she wouldn’t have to walk through the house again, it had been frightening enough in the daytime; she didn’t need the same experience again at night. 

Evie walked over to the car and opened Mal’s door; she looked stunning, as always. She had on a dress that looked like it had been burned and singed and torn to shreds, it hung off her in elegant drapes and her makeup was intensely dark and detailed. By her side Cracker had two extra heads and a studded collar on each one. 

“Persephone?” Mal tilted her head quizzically.

“And Cerberus, you can’t forget Cerberus.” she leaned down to kiss the dog--on each of its heads Mal noticed--it was adorably ridiculous. She had seen part of the costume Evie had made the other night when she and Jay were touring the house but she wouldn’t let anyone see the whole thing, except for Carlos; he helped to burn the thing apparently. 

“I’m glad _someone_ gets the costume.” Evie linked arms with Mal and rested her head on her shoulder, her and Carlos sticking their tongues out at each other. 

“Lookin good Carlos!” Jay threw his arm around him and the smaller boy blushed. He was dressed as black-and-white spotted werewolf with fluffy paws and boots and a big tail to match the mask he was holding. 

“Jay! Why aren’t you dressed up? Even Mal has a costume!” Carlos frantically gestured to Mal’s tutu and wings. 

“Mal’s costume barely counts.” Evie piped up, she smiled and flicked the flimsy wings Mal was wearing. Mal tried to hide her blush and called out Jay along with Carlos and Evie; eventually he got frustrated and walked into the house. Evie followed him, telling him that she had dozens of costume pieces and that she could find him something. After a minute he threw the door open and posed,

“I’m a lamp!” he tilted the lampshade on his head like a hat and wiggled his eyebrows. Evie followed him out wheezing with laughter. 

“You can’t be a lamp. That’s just dumb, it’s not even-”

“But I’m a _sexy_ lamp.” Jay responded before Carlos could continue and struck another pose, Carlos huffed and stuck the wolf mask on his head before crossing his arms, he looked like a pissed off stuffed animal. 

“Ok, ok ‘sexy lamp’, the first thing we’re going to do tonight is take my neighbor out trick-or-treating, she’ll be here in a minute.” Evie said as she knocked the lamp off Jay’s head and Carlos nodded his big wolf head and sat down next to Cracker, petting her with his fluffy paws. 

“So we go trick-or-treating for a couple hours then what?” Jay asked. He sat down by Carlos and bopped the four different dog noses, there were so many how could someone resist?

“Well there’s a few parties going on and a whole street that does haunted houses.” Evie looked really excited about the haunted house thing and Mal was starting to get mildly concerned that her night was going to end with her screaming in a stupid decorated house. 

“Dizzy!”

“Evie!” a tiny, brightly colored child ran towards Evie out of nowhere and leapt into her arms. Evie spun her around and kissed her on her head.

“Turn around Dizzy, let me see your costume!” she did a slow circle, letting everyone see the whole Wonder Woman outfit. “You did such a good job, look at these seams, Dizzy they’re better than mine!” Dizzy’s grin somehow got bigger and she jumped up and down, doing various superhero poses for Evie to take pictures. Evie looked as happy as Dizzy did, the both of them wearing huge smiles.

“Guys, lets go before it gets too late!” Dizzy squealed and ran down the street with the four teens following her. Mal was surprised to see Evie and Carlos go up to the doors with her and get candy; Mal and Jay had given up trying to get candy years ago and if Mal was honest with herself, she thought it was kind of childish and that she was too mature for that. After a while though Mal couldn’t resist and joined them and then Jay did too and for the next couple of hours the five of them would run up to houses and yell “trick-or-treat” along with Dizzy and any other kids there. By the end of the couple hours they went back to Evie’s house, turned on R.L. Stine’s _Monsterville_ (one of Dizzy’s favorites), and dumped all their candy on the floor, bartering and trading (and stealing in Jay’s case) their candy like they did when they were little. Dizzy somehow ended up with all the full sized candy bars and bags of popcorn and chips, she was someone Mal would never play cards with. Halfway through the movie Dizzy was nearly asleep in Evie’s lap and she had to wake her up.

“Are you staying over here tonight Dizzy or do you need a ride home?” Evie was playing with her hair and Dizzy shrugged

“Can I stay here?” she rubbed her eyes and knocked her big glasses out of place, Evie smiled and nodded in response. 

“You can sleep in my room with Cracker, are you ok being here with her alone?” Dizzy nodded and rolled off her lap to go upstairs, she hugged everyone good night and Cracker followed her up to the room. “Ok,” Evie ominously looked everyone in the eye, “it’s horror time.” Jay laughed nervously and Mal blanched, somehow going paler than usual. Eventually Carlos and Evie somehow got Jay and Mal out into the street and in line for one of the haunted houses down the street. Jay was doing his best to put up a brave front and Mal was trying to figure out a way to get the fuck out of this situation. She wasn’t about to be the only one who didn’t go in but she also wasn’t about the be the only one causing a problem. She thought about tripping Jay but she didn’t think that he would actually fall or go along with the plan she was trying to formulate. By the time she had thought up a plan that might feasibly work they were already in the damn house of horrors. 

It wasn’t so bad, just some flashing lights and creepy dolls on the walls and paintings with moving eyes. But then they walked through another door and Mal realized that that room had just been the place you buy your tickets. The door they walked through led into a dark and foggy room and it was freezing. Something jumped out from the wall and Mal screamed and stepped back into something that grabbed her. She shrieked and launched herself forward, gripping Evie’s arm for dear life. She looked over at Jay and Carlos, expecting them to be as terrified as she was. Carlos wasn’t even phased but Jay’s eyes were huge and his fists were balled up and his muscles were tensed. She looked up at Evie and, same as Carlos, she was completely unphased. 

After fifteen minutes in the haunted house Mal and Jay were ready to break down a door and make a run for it. Evie and Carlos couldn’t stop laughing at the two of them. This haunted house was one of their favorites; they even helped decorate it sometimes and they loved bringing people because it was so well designed. When they finally made it out, Jay and Mal were clinging to each other and glaring at the two of them. 

“I am never hanging out with you ever again.” Mal said, she was glaring at Evie, hating how her eyes lit up even in the dark when she laughed. Evie reached out to her but Mal was not having it, she pulled away ever so slightly. Evie’s face got sad and pouty.

“Oh mi amada, don’t be like that.” except Mal _was_ going to be like that because Evie had been gone for four days and never texted Mal and then Jay told her that they were going to just hang out on Halloween but instead they ended up in this ridiculous, stupid, _haunted_ house that didn’t scare Evie at all and now that she thought about it Evie was so unphased that it was like she had planned the whole “adventure” from the start. 

“Aw Mal, don’t be petty.” Jay seemed to already be recovered and was regaining his regular snark. She furrowed her brows and crossed her arms. 

“C’mon, babe don’t be like this.” Mal’s heart stuttered at the nickname, but she refused to give in. She resolutely crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at Jay and refused to look at Evie; she wouldn’t be able to resist the pout she knew Evie was wearing, it was too damn charming. Evie could get anything she wanted with that pout and she knew it. Mal scrunched her nose up and walked down the street with Evie trailing after her.

“Mal, come on, I’m in heels! Wait up! Look I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have brought you here if I knew you would be so upset.” Mal sighed, she really wasn't mad about that, maybe just a little, but she was mostly mad at herself. She was still upset about not having been texted when Evie was gone. She could have found a way to contact Evie that wasn’t through text she guessed, but why didn’t Evie just text first!? It was a point of pride that she had absorbed from the cheer team; you never text first, it just makes you look bad and she did _not_ want too look bad in front of Evie. 

“Mal,” Evie caught up to her and stopped her, “hey, what’s wrong?” she spun Mal around and made Mal look her in the eye.

“You were gone for four days and didn’t tell me!” she finally said it, dumb as it sounded, it was out there and she couldn’t really undo that at all. Evie’s face softened for a second, then she got a mischievous look in her eyes. 

“That’s what this is about? I didn’t know you cared so much about my whereabouts.” she raised one of her eyebrows and linked arms with Mal, guiding her down the street.

“I _don’t_ care, I just wanted to know when you were coming back so I could return that jacket you leant me. That’s all, I don’t actually want to know where you are, ever, at any point.at all, ever” Evie laughed and Mal shook her head, “It’s true!” she said indignantly. 

“Oh ok, you’re right I’m sorry. Next time you leave my house in my clothes I’ll give you a detailed schedule of my life for the next week.”

“That sounds reasonable.” Mal shivered and leaned a little into Evie, not because she wanted to be close to her or anything, just cause Evie was warm and right there. Evie wrapped her arm around Mal and rested her head against hers while they walked back to Evie’s house. They met the boys there and spent the rest of the night watching cheesy Halloween movies and eating their well-earned candy. They all fell asleep on the couch together, cuddled up in their costumes and warm blankets.


	12. Thanksgiving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooo.... i haven't updated in like two months...i realize that trust me. school got insane, the play i was working on started like two weeks before finals, speech and debate got to the end championships, shit got wild so i am so so sorry and i want to thank everyone who reads my work and is subscribed and actually enjoys this. merry christmas, happy holidays and a happy new year!!!

“You know Jay, sometimes I wish an angel would come down from heaven, grab my shoulders, look me in they eye, and tell me to _shut_ the **_fuck_** up.” Mal was splayed across the couch in Jay’s room, shooting daggers at Jay while he laughed at her. He plopped onto his bed and pulled out Mal’s wallet and some candy. She scowled at him and snatched her wallet back. 

“I’m serious, I need someone to shoot me down with lighting and make me shut the fuck up, do you know what I told Evie? That I got upset about her not telling me where the hell she was. She knows Jay, she _knows_ and it’s your fault.” 

“How is anything you do my fault?” 

“Because I need someone to blame and you are the only person around at the moment.” 

“You just need to ask her out, I am one-hundred percent positive that she will say yes.” he bopped Mal’s nose and she snapped her teeth like she was going to bite him.

“No, I can’t ask her out, ok I just can’t. I don’t want to get hurt if she says no and I don’t want to worry that I’ll hurt _her_ if she says yes. She’s too good for any kind of hurt in her life, she doesn’t need that.” she refused to make eye contact with him and her voice started to falter. There was too much to say to get it all out in one steady voice, and she had said this before, Jay had heard the rant whenever he brought up her relationships. 

“Mal,” he sat in front of her and grabbed her shoulder, “you are an amazing person, she would love to spend time with you, maybe just as friends if you’re afraid. Just consider it. You like her, she likes you, I think you’d get along just fine.”   
_-_-_-_-_

With the upcoming Thanksgiving break at school came the revving up of competitions for all sports and academic activities; in other words Carlos and Evie spent hours at speech and debate, constantly practicing and rehearsing, any spare moment used for running techniques and their new speeches. Mal and Jay also spent hours at practice and rehearsal, coming home late and physically exhausted, their new routines seared into their brains and bruised into their bodies. Their paths rarely crossed, occasionally seeing each other in the halls and pausing for a moment to breathe and complain about the shitty buses they took to competitions or how late they came home from practice. 

Jay learned that Carlos was also a dog show and agility competitor, taking Cracker to local competitions on the few free days he had. He couldn’t take Dude because there was no papers for the dog but he enjoyed taking Cracker, she was a bit of a celebrity in the show circle they ran in. 

Mal found out that Evie was also the costume designer for the upcoming school plays, that during the final rehearsal week she would be at school till around one in the morning and dictating to her assistants and crew when she couldn’t be there. She also knew that Evie spent hours at her dance studio and she couldn’t figure out how the girl balanced everything. 

Carlos discovered that Jay was also a martial artist, competing in international competitions and a gold medalist in his age group. He also loved just launching himself off the sides of walls and railings, scaring Carlos when he would run at a building and flip through the air. 

Evie found that Mal was an incredible artist, spending her meagre allowance on brushes and canvases. Her room was littered and stacked with canvases, all of them intense and beautiful. She even had a piece of art put up in an art gallery in the city. 

They discovered all these things about each other slowly and in breathless moments between class and texting each other on the long bus rides at two in the morning. During the week that was supposed to be their thanksgiving break they were scattered across the country for their various competitions. It was when all four of them were separated, not even in their usual pairs, did they realized how much they all missed each other. It had been weeks since they had done anything together and they were longing for the others’ touch and company. 

With Cruella and Grimhilde out of town they all decided to meet up at Evie’s house for the one day they were all free, showing up in their pajamas with their favorite foods. They spent the day sprawled on the couches, eating and talking about their favorite moments of competition so far. They complained about future competitions and Mal and Jay telling how they dreaded the colder weather for cheer. Evie and Carlos revelling in the fact that they wouldn’t be dying of heat in their suits and layers that were required for competition. They made sure to leave weekends free in the upcoming month so they could actually see each other. They were starting to need the company of each other more than they realized.


	13. Ice Skating

“Mal, come on, look!” Evie pulled Mal towards the center of the square where a giant Christmas tree was lit up just in front of an ice skating rink. The night had started relatively benignly: Evie was sent shopping by her mother and asked Mal to come with her so she could pick out something for Jay; it was sly and believable enough that Mal went along, with plenty of justification for her doubting head. They had just put all the bags in the car and Evie insisted on walking around and looking at all the decorations, even though it was cold enough to snow. It really was pretty, but it was so damn cold that Mal was having a hard time focusing on anything but her arm linked with Evie’s. Oddly that arm was warmer than the hand holding a fresh coffee. 

She brought Mal over to the brightly lit rink and bought two tickets before Mal could protest. She barely set her coffee down before she had skates laced to her feet and was wobbling toward the ice. It was incredibly late so there wasn’t as many people there like there normally was but that didn’t really change the anxiety Mal was feeling about this particular situation; she was nimble and graceful in the air but on slippery as hell ice with knives strapped to her feet she looked like a baby deer trying to walk on the ice instead of a girl. But Evie didn’t know that and she really didn’t want to fall on her ass or face or side or anything in front of her. So she took a deep breath and stepped onto the ice--and immediately shot forward, slamming into the edge wall. Her head flew up, looking for Evie; no one had seen her nearly eat it so she felt like she was doing fine. She watched Evie gently skate around, not doing anything super elaborate or fancy, but smooth enough that Mal wondered if she took lessons or grew up somewhere where it was common to skate. She did a slow little turn and glided up to Mal. She held out her mittened hand and smiled, and Mal decided that this was her best chance of not looking like a major fool and took it. Evie pushed off and brought Mal with her, they made it about ten feet before Mal started to freak the hell out and tense up. Her feet shot out in different directions and the only thing that kept her from really falling was Evie stopping Mal’s skate with her own, but Evie ended up with too much momentum and fell forward onto her knees. She laughed and hopped back up without hesitation and grabbed Mal’s hands again. 

“Come on, you have to shift your weight and lean on the balls of your feet to break if you get scared.” 

“I’m not scared, it’s just…been a while since I’ve skated.” she glanced away, eyes darting to her skates, hoping to keep herself from falling.

“Don’t look down! Your balance will get all messed up, and clench your abs, I know you have them.” If her cheeks hadn’t been completely red from the cold Mal would have blushed at that comment, but the weather saved her for once in her life and she just nodded and kept her eyes up, occasionally looking at Evie’s ginning face. 

“Here, just keep your eyes on me and copy my movements.” Evie took a couple steps (backwards Mal couldn’t help but notice) and started gliding. After a few minutes Mal was deemed proficient enough that Evie swiveled to her side and just held the one hand, occasionally weaving her feet and spinning circles around Mal and eventually Mal did fall and she laughed because Evie’s eyes lit up while helping her to her feet and without thinking about it Mal yanked her down and they ended up sliding into the side wall in a tangle of coats and skates. Evie couldn’t stop giggling and her breath came out in little sugary plumes. They kept skating around (and falling for Mal) and it turned out that Evie could do little tricks on the ice, small leaps and turns into the air. Mal thought she could pass for a figure skater; she had the grace and elegance that only dancers and apparently, skaters, seemed to have. 

It was around two in the morning when the bored employees finally kicked the two of them out of the rink. All the stores were closed and the only light was from the twinkling lights on the buildings and woven through the trees. Exhausted, they flopped to the floor to tug off their skates, still smiling and surrounded by their own fogged breath. Evie leaned her head back against the wall and looked up at Mal, all shining blue hair and rosy cheeks. Mal was very bruised but not quite so cold anymore and when she helped Evie to her feet, she didn’t let her go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> while one of my favorite fanfic tropes ever is cute ice skating i actually hate ice skating because i'm terrible at it and i fall on my butt over and over and its horribly cold so if someone wants to teach me how that would be great then i can live out my fanfic fantasies


	14. Champagne and Calligraphy

Maleficent threw a letter at Mal when she walked in the door, which was odd because who the hell sent letters anymore? Her mom seemed in a worse mood than usual, which was also odd considering she was always in a terrible mood. She picked it up and silently went to her room; it was better to leave plotting beasts be, she had learned long ago to not poke the wasp nest. She ripped it open and found a blue and gold invitation.

**_You are cordially invited to the Christmas Eve cocktail party  
at the residence of the Lady Grimhilde_ **

The details of when and the address were written in what looked like calligraphy and under it in the neat scrawl that was Evie’s, 

  
_Please come! These parties are horribly boring without a real friend around!  
xoxo_

Mal let out a big breath, a party was something she was not built to be at. Evie was groomed to be at those things, bred to be poised and elegant at all times, you could never get a bad snapshot of her. Mal just wasn’t like that, she hated dressing up and couldn’t really walk in heels, she was pretty sure she had seen Carlos walk around in heels steadier than Mal could. Evie wanted her there, with her mother and all the people who were constantly judging her for everything she did, why? The thought of seeing Evie dressed to the teeth for a holiday party _was_ appealing though, so she texted Evie and told her she would be coming. She had no plans for the holiday; her mom hated the decorations and the mess that a Christmas tree would ensue. Evie’s house, as Mal had noticed, was heavily decorated for each holiday; autumn leaves and glass blown pumpkins and fall wreaths for Thanksgiving and the memorable Halloween decorations. The most elaborate decorations thus far were the ones for Christmas; there were thickly decorated trees on every floor and in every main room. Lights adorned the outside of the house and a flock of gilted deer covered the lawn. Garlands and little lights wrapped around the stair railing and swags (Mal laughed at the name when Evie told her) on the windows. It was a veritable winter wonderland. It made coming home to her bare house more depressing than usual. Evie had offered to come over and help decorate her room if she wanted; she had refused, her mom would have it thrown out if she had decorations. But she had a small strand of lights on her bookshelf and a tiny wooden reindeer Evie had given her. 

She was going to go, she wanted to see Evie and she wanted to get her something for Christmas (that was still something she needed to get) and she wanted to get an outfit that would impress even Evie. So she pulled out her phone and called the only person she could trust.

“Carlos, I need your help.” 

_-_-_-_

“Ok so are you willing to wear a dress to this thing because traditionally to a cocktail party you would wear a cocktail dress but you know the times are a-changing so you could get away with a pantsuit if you’re down for that look. Also, heels, they can make your legs look longer...no, put those down those have ankle straps you’ll look like you’re two feet tall.”

“Uh, I guess let’s go with a dress, that sounds the most impressive. Heels; I can’t walk in them so what are we going to do about that?”

“You’re going to learn to walk in them, duh.” Carlos shook his head in disdain and tapped his foot. 

“Ugh, how do you know I can learn to do it?”

“Because you’re in love and you’ll do anything for her.” he turned to Mal and smiled while she spluttered and scowled at him. “Now, let’s get you a holiday dress!” 

After many, many dresses and skirts and blouses, Mal finally found one that she actually liked, felt confident it, could afford, and believed was stunning enough for Evie. It was an ivory color with silver sequins striped and swirled around the chest and bodice before dripping down to the bottom of the dress like icicles. It hit above her knees and with some small silver heels and her beat up leather jacket the look was complete. Carlos was proud of his little masterpiece and insisted on going with Mal to the party so he could see Evie’s reaction, which he kept assuring Mal would be amazing. 

He also explained to Mal that the Christmas Eve party, sometimes a cocktail party sometimes a super elaborate banquet, was a long held tradition. It was at one of these parties that Evie was gifted Cracker. It was also an excellent time to meet people in the industry, for which Evie having the connections she did was invaluable. She did sometimes enjoy the gatherings and had begun to invite Carlos, and this year, Mal. The only real damper on the constant parties Grimhilde threw was that Evie was not the only person there her age; Chad’s father was usually invited and brought him along, sometimes Audrey or even on occasion Ben and his father were guests. Typically Evie avoided them but it was impossible, especially when she was the one greeting people at the door, to completely ignore them. Mal, however, did not know any of this. 

_-_-_-_-_

The guests had started showing up around seven-thirty, too early for a party in her opinion but she wasn’t the hostess so she didn’t get a choice in the matter. The hired staff, people to carry trays of champagne and hors d’oeuvres, were standing around ready to fill an empty hand or offer refreshments. Around the time people had started to show up she slipped upstairs to change. This outfit was one of the few she hadn’t made; it was a black long-sleeved minidress with elaborate gold embroidery across the shoulders, down the sleeves to her wrists, and down her chest to the center of the dress and the sides. The back was low-cut and she pulled her hair up into a half-do letting some of her soft curls fall down her back. She pulled on some pearl colored satin shoes and headed back downstairs, catching the eye of all the guests and the staff. Pretending not to notice, she stepped up to the door and continued to greet people. Around eight-thirty Mal finally showed up, accompanied by a grinning Carlos. Evie opened the door when they rang and Carlos, with a mini flourish pulled Mal up to the porch and pushed her towards Evie. He laughed at the two girls standing on either side of the threshold, gawking and grinning at each other. He did a two-fingered salute and hopped off down the stairs, Evie had barely enough of her brain to wave at him as he left. 

“Come in, come in!” Evie quickly motioned her through the door and Mal was struck again with the grandeur of the Christmas decorations. She turned back to Evie and shook her head, as always she was breathtaking. Black silk hugging her body and elaborate embroidery adding to the near royal way she held herself. She linked arms with Mal and led her through the room, introducing Mal when someone looked their way. It was all wildly overwhelming and beautiful and hot and she was pretty sure she had seen Evie pick up a few glasses of champagne and down them in one gulp. She was steady on her six inch heels though and knew the name of every person in the room and what they did for a living. Each one of them looked Evie up and down, reading whatever it was they wanted to be there, attraction in the old men, jealousy in the women, snottieness in the children. They saw what they wanted and Evie was battered by it, just like anyone else there. She just looked the most put together, the most poised and weightless, nobody but Mal seeing the heavy breaths she sucked in when she thought no one was looking or the alcohol she sipped when he mother wasn’t around. 

So Mal just stood back and observed the executioners in expensive clothes. She didn’t speak unless directly spoken to; she preferred to watch Evie in an element that, while destructive, she made look easy and natural. She played hostess better than her mother and did it like nothing touched her shoulders. She got pulled away a few times, disappearing into the glittering crowd for longer than Mal wanted to be away from her. She saw Chad and nodded at him from across the room, face screwing up in distaste when he turned away. She was never a fan of Chad, he was dating Audrey and would come to practice and gawk at the girls, not an uncommon thing; those skirts were short for a reason, but he was also constantly trying to get the other girls to kiss him. Audrey never believed the girls when one of them got caught and he lived in a perpetual state of gross romantic control. She worried that he would be rude to Evie and push her over the edge. She knew Evie could handle him elegantly and make him feel like an idiot though so she sat and listened to an old woman rattle on about her grandson. 

It wasn’t until Grimhilde called for everyone’s attention that Mal realized Evie hadn’t come back from the last time she disappeared and she hadn’t seen Chad recently either. She slipped up the stairs, thinking to get to the locked up Cracker and hoping Evie was up there with her. The door was somewhat open and she stepped into the room. It was freezing and the door to the balcony was open. Mal stepped onto the deck and felt the snow crunch under her heels. Evie was standing against the railing, she had been out there long enough that she had snow in her hair and on her clothes. She must have been violently cold but she didn’t seem to even feel it. She spotted Mal and rubbed at her face, trying to hide the streaks of tears down her cheeks. Mal didn't say anything, just stood beside Evie in the icy night air, barely brushing her shoulder. Evie started coughing and shook her head a bit, loosening bits of hair and flakes of snow, her breath shuddering.

“You know, I used to dress up in little ballgowns, I felt like a princess and everyone made me feel like I was. Now they just want something from me, they want me to be this statue, perfect and like I don’t feel anything. Like it doesn’t bother me when married men stare at my ass and women hate me just for being young. I just hate everyone in there, they all sit around and judge each other and stare at each other and everyone feels like shit or like they're superior and it's horrible. They're all so shallow and dumb and _cold._ ” she jerked her hand across the railing and showered snow everywhere, her hands were so red. “And they make me feel like a fool for wanting to be more than a future trophy wife. I hate it! I hate it all, I hate everyone in there!” she threw the glass she was clutching like a lifeline into the wall and it exploded, disappearing into the crystal ice. Mal had never seen her like this, full of rage and tears in her eyes. The hand that had been holding the glass was bloody, she had cracked the glass in her hand before she threw it and it was dripping red into the bright white snow. 

Mal reached out and brushed a strand of hair behind Evie's ear and gently took her bloodied hand. She had snowflakes on her wet eyelashes, they clung to the tears that Mal suddenly hated. Mal’s hand was shaking, from the cold or the anger that anyone could make Evie feel like she was worthless, she couldn't quite tell. 

“E, you are so much better than anyone in there, they're puddles; shallow and oily ok? You're...you’re like an ocean, you are powerful and beautiful and so much more than anything anyone else is. They know they're shit next to you so they're doing the only thing they know how to do. They only know how to make themselves feel like crap so they do it to other people.” She took a deep breath, stuttering on the ice in her lungs, “Trust me, I know.” she pulled Evie into her chest and just held the girl there, feeling her shudder and soften into Mal’s arms. 

“Come on, let’s go inside. You’re going to get sick.” Mal pulled her toward the door and sat her on the bed. She picked up one of the fuzzy blankets off the bed and wrapped it around Evie and quietly got a washcloth and gauze for her hand. She sat for fifteen minutes holding Evie’s slowly warming hand, picking the glass bits out of the delicate skin. When her hand was wrapped up and she wasn’t shivering anymore Mal made her get under the covers and she climbed in with her, wrapping her arms around Evie’s shoulders and kissing the top of her head. She smelled like snow and champagne and Mal just pressed her tightly against her, hoping she could squeeze the sadness out of the girl she loved.


End file.
